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Akron's Jackson living the dream

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PHOTO COURTESY DYMEK FAMILY
Melissa (Dymek) Jackson, a former Hazleton Area basketball standout and current University of Akron associate head women's basketball coach, and her son, Luke, celebrate after the Zips captured the Mid-American Conference championship to earn their first-ever NCAA tournament bid. The Zips will play Purdue on Saturday.

Melissa (Dymek) Jackson was born and raised in Hazleton, played her high school basketball for Joe Gavio at Hazleton Area and now is in the national spotlight as the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament gets under way Saturday.

Jackson is in her sixth season on the University of Akron women's basketball staff and her second as associate head coach. She serves as the program's recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator and works primarily with the guards.

The Zips are in the NCAA tournament for the first time in the 40-year history of the program, as they prepare to meet Purdue at West Lafayette, Ind. on Saturday, at 1:30 p.m. ESPN2 will televise the game.

"We are all excited just to be there," Jackson said. "We won our conference (MAC) title and we got the (bid), which was a first ever for our school for the (women)."

Jackson began her coaching career after playing at Division I Richmond.

She will tell you she is a gym rat and that is directly attributed to her father, Jerry Dymek, a one-time junior high coach who also coached AAU basketball when Melissa was first getting involved as a player.

"I was always in the gym because my dad was coaching and I went along with him," Jackson said from her home in Bay Village, near Akron, Ohio. That's where she lives with her husband Drew, and their son, Luke, 1.

Jackson's coach at Richmond knew she had the makeup to be a coach, so she made a phone call to the University of Delaware, where there was a coaching opening almost 10 years ago.

"My coach at Richmond, Joan Boyle, told me that there was no way I was going to be able to give up basketball," Jackson said, laughing at the memory. "She (encouraged) me to get into coaching, and she made a phone call and the next thing you know I'm headed to Delaware, where I made some great friends and some good contacts."

She also met her husband while in college and she said a long-distance romance ended when Drew Jackson gave her a ring.

"I said you gave me a diamond and I will move to Ohio," she said.

It just so happens an opening on the Akron staff came about. It was good karma as well as timing.

"This group of seniors is the one I recruited when I first got here, so they're very special to me," Jackson said. "We're a very tight-knit group... and to make the tournament (with them) makes it even more special."

Jackson's offensive style says it all: the Zips average 82.8 points per game on the way to their 23-9 record.

"We're an up-tempo team as you can tell," Jackson said.

A lot of the Zips' zip has to do with the type of player she has helped to recruit. Together, they have brought the program to the forefront of the Mid-American Conference over the past several seasons.

The 2013-14 senior class marks Jackson's first full recruiting class at Akron, and is just eight victories away from becoming the winningest class in school history.

In 2012-13, Jackson transformed Hanna Luburgh into one of the most feared shooting guards in the conference as she averaged 22.7 point per game this season. Luburgh earned All-MAC third team and All-MAC Tournament team honors after averaging 24.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in the conference tournament. She was named MAC East Player of the Week three times during the season and finished the year with 549 points, which ranks third all-time in program history for a single season.

"It's so much fun to play for our team and that makes it so much easier to recruit," Jackson said.

Taylor Ruper earned All-MAC honors in 2012 under Jackson's watch. During Ruper's career at Akron, Jackson helped to develop her into the Zips' and the entire conferene's all-time leading three-point shooters.

"Melissa has worked very hard over the last five years to help build our program into a Mid-American Conference contender," Akron head coach Jodi Kest said on the team's website. "Her relentless recruiting efforts and coaching capabilities have helped take us to the next level."

Jackson joined the Akron staff after helping to guide the Delaware program to three postseason berths - including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 - in four seasons while in the same role from 2004-05 to 2007-08.

During Jackson's time at Delaware, the Blue Hens captured a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season championship in 2004-05, earned a pair of WNIT berths in 2005 and 2006 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in 2007 with a 26-6 record. Overall, the Blue Hens posted a four-year record of 80-44 (.645) and won 71 percent of its conference games (51-21) during that stretch.

Jackson, who worked primarily with the guards at Delaware, helped mentor 2007 WNBA draftee (No. 18 overall) and former Detroit Shock guard Tyresa Smith and a pair of CAA Defensive Players of the Year in Smith (2006, 2007) and Kyle DeHaven (2008).

Jackson also played key roles in the recruitment of Jocelyn Bailey, a Top 100 player according to HoopGurlz.com in 2008, and Tesia Harris, the 14th-best swing guard in the nation according to the All-Star Girls Report in 2007.

Jackson played four seasons at the Richmond and earned a political science degree in May 2004. She appeared in 50 career games as a guard with the Atlantic 10 Conference power and earned WNIT berths in both 2003 and 2004. Her 2004 squad advanced to the semifinals.

An all-state selection at Hazleton Area High School in 2000 and the second leading scorer in Lady Cougars' history, Jackson is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has participated in a number of charitable programs, including Habitat for Humanity, Helping Hands and Adopt a Grandparent.

She is the daughter of Marybeth and Jerry Dymek of Hazleton.

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